Breakthroughs in science and medicine usually are first reported in big-name journals, including Science, Nature and the Journal of the American Medical Association.

The world of peer-reviewed research journals is wider, however. San Diego is home to a rare entry in the field of science communication — a journal written and published by college undergraduates.

We talked with Leila Haghighat, editor of the Saltman Quarterly at UCSD, about the publication and its aims. Haghighat, 20, is a third-year undergraduate at Revelle College, majoring in general biology and minoring in English literature. As one of 14 national winners of the Churchill Scholarship, she will be spending the next academic year at the University of Cambridge, studying for a master’s degree in translational medicine and therapeutics.

She is one of 10 students in her graduating class who are part of UCSD’s combined

B.S./M.D. program. Each year, the program guarantees up to 12 high school seniors admission to UCSD’s medical school without the need to take the medical school entrance exam, known as the MCAT. When she returns from her year of study in the United Kingdom, she will start medical school.

Haghighat grew up in San Jose.

Q: Why is the journal named the Saltman Quarterly and how did it come to be?

A: Saltman Quarterly (SQ) was initiated in 2004 by three UCSD biology majors who recognized the lack of a venue for their peers to publish and showcase their own original research. A significant portion of the 6,000 biology majors at UCSD conduct research, and, while many of them co-author papers in high-impact journals, the challenge of first authoring a scientific paper is an opportunity that rarely arises for students at the undergraduate level but is, nevertheless, made possible through SQ. The journal is an annual publication, and this year the eighth volume will be released.

As for the journal’s namesake, SQ’s co-founders fittingly chose Dr. Paul Saltman, a beloved biochemistry and nutrition professor at UCSD. He passed away in 1999, but, to this day, his name elicits a gush of fond memories from those fortunate enough to have known him. Dr. Saltman was a dynamic instructor who took students surfing to de-stress and had a penchant for engaging undergraduates in the hands-on dimension of a college education. From his start at UCSD in 1967, he pushed for undergraduate biology majors to become teaching assistants and partake in lab research that went beyond the grunt work of dishwashing and autoclaving.

That go-getter spirit of galvanizing students to round out their education with real-world opportunities is the legacy of Dr. Saltman that SQ tries to preserve.

Q: Who contributes to it?

A: SQ is a journal written by undergraduates, produced by undergraduates, and distributed to undergraduates as well as the general public. We publish three forms of student work: feature articles, original research and senior honor thesis abstracts.

Feature articles, like those found in Time or Newsweek, are concise, exposé-style pieces on hot-button issues or breakthroughs in biology. Staff writers who write these articles are the backbone of this section. As part of their responsibilities, staff writers are additionally required to interview a UCSD-affiliated professor or researcher to supplement their articles. Every year, there are between five and seven staff writers who each develop a single piece for the journal.

Original research is solicited from any UCSD undergraduate who is majoring in one of the university’s eight biology majors. Those students who don’t necessarily have lab experience can submit a manuscript by writing a review article, which summarizes research already conducted in a given field and projects its future.

Lastly, we also publish the abstracts of biology majors who have elected to complete a senior honors thesis.

Q: Articles in the world’s respected scientific journals are subject to rigorous peer review before publication. Does something like that happen at the Saltman Quarterly?

A: Yes, there is a rigorous and streamlined process that all submitted manuscripts undergo. The reviews given by trained undergraduates as well as faculty members ultimately determine whether the submission is published.

A submission is first categorized into one of four subcategories: neurobiology; molecular biology; cell and developmental biology; or ecology, behavior and evolution. For each of these sections, SQ has a cohort of undergraduate review board members who are responsible for reviewing all the manuscripts submitted in their section of choice. The approximately 100 review board members are trained in a quarterly review board workshop, led by the review board managers, and are taught how to rank submitted manuscripts based on such elements as grammar, adherence to the scientific method, interpretation of results, and accuracy of conclusions.

Q: How involved are faculty members in the publication of the journal?

A: Dr. Saltman’s eager engagement with undergraduates is reflected in the faculty advisory board that SQ has actively maintained since its inception. Though students may initially be intimidated to interact with their professors outside of the classroom, SQ tries to break down that barrier by inviting faculty to social events and incorporating them in the review process.

In addition to being reviewed by the undergraduate students that comprise SQ, each submitted manuscript is also reviewed by faculty members of the advisory board. Shortly after submission, the author is invited to a meeting with a faculty member and research editor where constructive criticism, compiled from all student and faculty reviews, is shared for revision of the manuscript.

Q: The Saltman Quarterly is aimed at a scientifically literate audience, but is it necessary for biologists and other scientists to communicate details of their work to the general public?

A: SQ has something for everyone. For those less scientifically inclined, feature articles break down the acronym-ridden lexicon of biologists into layman terms, tackling such topics as myoproliferative disorders and the effects of cannabis on binge drinking. There’s something more than factual knowledge to take away from the original research as well. Although the research manuscripts in SQ are modeled on those found in major journals like Science and Nature, their implementation of the scientific method — how to pose a question, design experiments that address it, and arrive at a conclusion — is a way of thinking that can be applied to fields outside of science as well.

San Diego has its own biotech culture, and in 2010, UCSD’s biology program was ranked first in a national survey conducted by the National Research Council. It’s only fitting, then, that undergraduates have the opportunity to contribute to the dialogue among professionals at their university and among the inhabitants of San Diego at large.

Q: You are also mentoring high school students who will contribute to the journal. Has a high school student contributed before, and can you explain why such a contribution is important?

A: This year also marks the first time that SQ will have high school students actually contribute to the journal as staff writers. Two seniors from The Preuss School, Karina Santellano and Tony Chau, have been working with us since September to publish their features articles on autism and diabetes, respectively. Their inclusion is, in part, an extension of Dr. Saltman’s legacy — engaging youth in scientific dialogue with professionals — and also an opportunity that SQ simply felt high school students would appreciate — the opportunity to engage with university faculty and, of course, be published.

You can count the number of our nation’s undergraduate biology journals on a single hand, so I don’t think it’s an overstatement to suggest that SQ offers both high school and undergraduates a one-of-a-kind opportunity to experiment with experimentation in all its stages, from conceiving a hypothesis to publishing your results. (There is, in fact, only one other undergraduate biology journal that I am aware of, and it’s published at MIT).